Saudi coalition claims it killed 800 al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen

Yemeni troops backed by Arab coalition air strikes killed more than 800 members of al-Qaeda in an attack on a southeastern provincial capital held by the group for the past year, the coalition said Monday.

Pro-government forces recaptured an oil terminal as well as the city of Mukalla, which was considered a jihadist stronghold, military sources said.

"The operation resulted... in the death of more than 800 al-Qaeda members and some of their leaders, while some others fled," Arab coalition commanders said in a statement published by SPA, the official Saudi news agency.

The operation was part of a wider offensive aimed at securing parts of the country captured by jihadist fighters who have exploited a 13-month war between Gulf-backed loyalists and rebels supported by Iran.

It coincides with UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait after a ceasefire entered into effect on April 11, but from which jihadists groups are excluded.

"We entered the city centre (of Mukalla) and were met by no resistance from al-Qaeda militants who withdrew west" towards the vast desert in Hadramawt and Shabwa provinces, a military officer told AFP by phone from the city the jihadists seized last April.

Forces loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni president flash their arms at a road on the entrance to Abyan province Credit:
AFP

The officer, who requested anonymity, said residents of Mukalla, home to an estimated 200,000 people, had appealed to the jihadists to spare the city the destruction of fighting and to withdraw.

Yemeni military sources said Emirati military vehicles were used in the operation and that troops from the Gulf country, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition, were among the forces that entered Mukalla.

AFP could not immediately confirm these reports from officials in the United Arab Emirates.

Last month, a US air strike on an al-Qaeda training camp in Hadramawt province killed dozens of fighters in a major blow to the jihadists.

A provincial official in Shabwa said jihadists also fled from the town of Azzan on Sunday which they seized in February.

As the anti-jihadist offensive gained momentum, a bomb-laden vehicle exploded Sunday, killing seven soldiers and wounding 14. They were in a convoy entering another southern jihadist stronghold - Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, said military sources, blaming Al-Qaeda for the attack.